Monday Morning News & Notes
Denmark leads EV revolution. Global COVID hot spots.
🍃Environment & Energy⚡️
🇫🇮
The Finnish National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA) has increased the alert level for Finland’s gas supply security. On Friday, the agency raised the alert level to the middle of a three-tiered energy supply alarm system due to the damaged Balticconnector pipeline remaining offline over the coming winter.
Per the NESA press release:
“The alarm level is the middle step on a three-step scale. It is introduced in a situation where a gas supply disruption or an exceptionally high demand for gas significantly weakens the gas supply situation, but where the market is still able to manage the disruption or demand without having to resort to other than market-based measures.”
Gasgrid Finland, the pipeline operator, says that Finland’s gas market is stable and plenty of natural gas is available through the country’s two main offshore LNG platforms.
🇩🇰 ⚡️ 🚗
Denmark is a world leader on the transition from fossil fuel to electric cars but further progress hangs on a knife’s edge. That was the warning from Dansk e-Mobilitet at last week’s electric vehicle convention. The organization notes that there are almost 200,000 EVs on the road in Denmark right now and it expects that milestone will be crossed before year’s end.
Chair Casper Kirketerp-Møller says at the moment everything is going aces. Newer electric vehicles can go longer and longer on a charge, the transition to clean green energy is racing along, and charging infrastructure is growing in leaps and bounds.
“We have seen clear progress over the past several years, but especially within the past year, a lot has happened. In the past 12 months, the public charging infrastructure for electric cars in Denmark has more than doubled.”
However, Kirketerp-Møller says in order to reach the goal of having 1.5 million EVs on the road in Denmark by 2030 more work needs to be done to make buying an EV affordable for families and the building of charging infrastructure must keep pace. His biggest concern is that it is taking far too long to build new wind turbines and solar cell farms. On top of that, giant offshore wind energy companies in Europe appear to be in the fiscal doldrums. Kirketerp-Møller says we cannot afford a slow-down now because it will make it much more difficult to build out EV infrastructure later.
Dansk e-Mobilitet estimates that 45 modern wind turbines would be enough to power one million electric vehicles. It says that if the 2030 goal can be reached, having 1.5 million electric vehicles on the road would equal a CO2 emissions reduction of 4.3 million tonnes.
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If the leader of Denmark’s Radikale Venstre (Social Liberal Party) has anything to say about it the axe will be brought down on the sale of fossil fuel vehicles in Denmark.
Martin Lidegaard addressed the Dansk e-Mobilitets annual general meeting on Friday.
“We would like to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars in Denmark in two years. We must have a completely new tax system where you don't pay tax to buy electric cars but instead pay to drive the cars.”
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Denmark has now passed Norway in the number of electric vehicle charging stations available around the country.
And more infrastructure is being built all the time. Companies like Clever have 6,000 charging points and are building on average four new ones every day. Norlys has reached an agreement to build at least 50 charging stations at Burger King restaurants around the country. It is already working on a similar project at more than 75 McDonalds restaurants.
According to Denmark’s Ministry of Transportation, the number of EV charging stations has increased in the last three years from 2,450 in June of 2019 to over 6,550. That equals roughly 0.71 charging points per 1,000 inhabitants in Denmark. Another way of looking at it is that according to the Ministry, there are 13 EVs in Denmark for every one public charging point. In Norway, the ratio is much higher coming out to slightly more than 30 electric cars per charging point.
Dansk e-Mobilitet Chief Consultant Søren Jakobsen:
“We have an abundance of charging stations compared to Norway, and this is really good for electric drivers. I don't see any signs that the pace of setting up charging stations is slowing down. Electric cars have reached a 'point of no return'. They beat fossil-fuel cars in terms of climate, environment, and driving pleasure, so the question now is solely how quickly we can complete the transition.”
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Electric cars could help power your home during an outage or help homeowners buy and sell electricity on the open market. In fact, people who own a BMW i5 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, or Italy, can access a charging box, app, and the needed software for their car to interact with their home’s electricity consumption and any roof-mounted solar cells. Global Development Manager Henriette Høyer from E.ON Drive Global says it is called the ‘Connected Home Charging Ecosystem’ and they working towards a full launch of the platform by 2025.
Several other companies including Spirii, DTU, Radius Elnet, and Hybrid Greentech are analyzing the charging profiles of some 4,000 EVs to better understand how they affect the power grid and how in turn local power markets can be created.
🇩🇰 Flooding
More than a week removed from the massive storm surge fueled flooding along Denmark’s east coast and the clean-up continues. There are still some households without electricity, traffic lights in places are still down, and some areas are still awaiting specialized clean-up due to sewage mixing with the flood waters. The city of Kolding is one such example.
Facilities and Operations Manager Mads Astrup Sørensen spoke to DR:
“For example, we have a car park that we want to ensure is properly cleaned before we use it again because there was a lot of water that washed in there.”
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Help is coming. That was the message from Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke who spent some time last week getting a first-hand look at the flood damages along the East Coast.
Heunicke spoke to DR:
“When you have to prepare against such severe [weather] incidents, of which there are unfortunately becoming more and more, it costs money. The municipalities and landowners must pay something, but the state must also contribute.”
He says the state must help on a number of fronts including by loosening the purse strings to help foot the clean up bill. But Heunicke wouldn’t provide any concrete details simply saying the damages are still being assessed and the government response is taking shape.
One of the biggest complaints has been the disproportionately large amount of funding allocated to Denmark’s west coast for climate adaptation projects leaving a much smaller pot of money for east coast communities. Heunicke didn’t directly address the disparity but he did say that severe weather events like the recent once-in-100-year storm surge that buffeted Denmark will become more the rule rather than the exception.
“We must prepare for it happening more frequently. These forces are so enormous that the dikes could not hold. Therefore, we must be sure that what we do in the future must be prepared for completely different weather.”
🇩🇰
The Danish government has selected six projects from four different companies to help build out new clean green hydrogen infrastructure. The six Power to X projects were chosen after an open tender last spring where more than 4 billion Danish kroner (more than $800 million Cdn) in bids were submitted.
Climate, Energy and Supply Minister Lars Aagaard:
"We are investing heavily in a technology that converts green electricity into hydrogen and into fuels that can be put in airplanes and poured into the tank of a ship. It is climate action that can help both Denmark and our European neighbors get rid of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil and bring us closer to our climate goals.”
Power to X is a technology that in essence converts electricity to hydrogen where it can be stored to be converted back into electricity on demand. Hydrogen itself can also be used as a fuel. Green hydrogen refers to a process using only clean energy throughout.
Denmark has set a goal to build up to six gigawatts of green hydrogen capacity by 2030. The six projects that have won the tender will help achieve that goal.
“In the spring, we agreed on the largest offshore wind tender in Danish history, and we are working to quadruple the production of green electricity on land. Before long, we will be able to produce far more green electricity when the sun is shining and the wind turbines are spinning than we ourselves need. We can convert that into hydrogen, which the German industry in particular demands. With this, we are also kick-starting a new Danish export adventure.”
An agreement has already been reached between Denmark and Germany to enable a land-based hydrogen pipeline running between the two countries.
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There seems to be pressure building in the Danish parliament to do something of substance on the issue of huge near-dead zones in Denmark’s inland waterways. A combination of bottom trawling and the constant leaching of fertilizers (nitrogen) from agricultural lands into marine environments has depleted oxygen to critical levels in huge swaths of the sea around Denmark. A recent report noted that huge areas of the Kattegat, the inland passage between Denmark and Sweden leading into the Baltic, are so starved for oxygen that fish and other marine life are fleeing while invertebrates are dying out en mass.
For years Danish politicians have been tip-toeing around a way to remove 100,000 hectares of land from agricultural operations to create a buffer between farming and the marine ecosystem. Four political parties, SF, Radikale Venstre, Enhedslisten and Alternativet, have presented an emergency marine environment plan in parliament. In part, it seeks to give municipalities the muscle and resources for the removal of the 100,000 hectares and cap nitrogen discharge into ocean waters at 38,000 tonnes by 2027.
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke:
“We must remove more nitrogen from the fjords if we are to get rid of the oxygen loss that has destroyed all life in those areas. This requires concrete efforts on, among other things, strict regulation on nitrogen emissions that will come into force at the turn of the year. Every day we make agreements to take out low-lying areas or provide subsidies for afforestation, where agricultural land is removed. We do not hesitate, and it is my responsibility that we get results.”
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Big companies and municipalities across the Nordics are increasing pressure up their supply chains to encourage the transition to clean green energy. One of the biggest is IKEA, which has set the goal of having all of its deliveries made using electric vehicles by 2025.
One of the companies that work to deliver and install IKEA kitchens is Aarhus-based Raunstrup. Its fleet primarily runs on diesel with one electric vehicle so far. The company isn’t rushing to transition its fleet to electricity but it is taking steps to reduce emissions. Among the steps it is taking is reassessing the weight of each of its work vehicles and sending drivers to special courses so they can learn how to reduce fuel consumption. The company is even tying reducing CO2 emissions to employee bonuses.
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A company called Effekthandel along with 49 small energy companies in Jutland are all accused of violating Denmark’s Competition Act. The Danish Competition and Consumer Authority says the companies were working together illegally to coordinate power prices with the goal of raising market prices and increasing profits.
🇸🇪
Tesla employees in Sweden went on strike over the weekend. The 130 workers at seven different Tesla facilities walked off the job on Friday and began strike action. It might be a bitter protracted strike as Tesla seems reluctant to engage in talks with the workers out of fear of setting a labour and wages precedent across the company.
Tesla is apparently trying to play hardball. IF Metall Contract Secretary told Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter that Tesla has threatened to fire striking workers and may be planning on bringing in other workers to break the strike.
“We have members who confirm it. Tesla executives have threatened them with layoffs. They have also threatened to include the option program where the employees get shares after a certain number of years. This is unusual in Sweden and a serious threat to the entire trade union movement.”
🦠COVID🦠
🌍 🦠
Global COVID numbers fell in the latest 28-day reporting period ending October 22. In its latest snapshot of the worldwide coronavirus situation, the World Health Organization says there were over half a million new confirmed infections (-42%) while more than 4,700 people lost their lives to the virus (-43%).
“Trends in the number of reported new cases and deaths should be interpreted with caution due to decreased testing and sequencing, alongside reporting delays in many countries.”
There were just 93 countries reporting any kind of confirmed infection data, less than half the countries across the globe, while a mere 38 shared coronavirus fatality information.
“COVID remains a major threat, and WHO urges member states to maintain, not dismantle, their established COVID infrastructure. It is crucial to sustain early warning, surveillance, and reporting, variant tracking, early clinical care provision, administration of vaccine to high-risk groups, improvements in ventilation, and regular communication.”
Of the six WHO regions just two, the European (+10%) and South East Asia regions (+14%), saw infection numbers rise. South East Asia also saw a big jump in COVID deaths (+978%) but the WHO says this is largely due to India submitting a backlog of cases. Fatalities also rose in the Eastern Mediterranean (+55%).
At the individual country level, Italy is emerging as a COVID hot spot again with 141,255 new infections (+24%) and 560 more deaths (+36%). Russia is seeing cases (+195%) and deaths (+237%) increase as well. Other hot spots include Serbia (cases +288%), Singapore (cases +149%), and the UK (cases +6%). Sweden also saw a rising number of coronavirus deaths with 138 more lives lost (+28%). India in adjusting its historical death toll due to a backlog of cases has reported 1,260 more fatalities.
The WHO pegs the global positivity percentage at a stable 8% over the last 28 days.
Not very many countries are reporting COVID hospitalization and intensive care admission data anymore. Of the 60 sharing infection-related admissions data, there were 95,989 new hospitalizations (-11%) while there were also 1,603 severely infected people requiring intensive care (+13%).
Of the 29 countries that have consistently reported infection-related admissions, seven saw the number of new patients increase by more than 100%. They are Saint Lucia (+650%), Chile(+368%), Bolivia (+260%), Slovakia (+212%), Czech Republic (+199%), North Macedonia(+171%), Honduras (+110%). Based on the sheer number of overall admissions the United States saw by far the most new COVID patients of any country in the world with 68,409.
European countries featured prominently among those seeing intensive care admissions jump. They include Greece (+68%), Lithuania (+42%), the Netherlands (+39%), Sweden (+37%), and Ireland (+24%). Brazil had the highest number of overall new ICU patients with 955 (+24%).
The global health agency says from what few positive tests are still being sequenced it looks like the EG.5 variant is the most dominant making up 45.8% of genome sequenced tests being done.
🇪🇺🦠
In the week ending October 22, respiratory infections across the EU were at what the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention called “expected levels” for this time of year. That said, it notes that increasing coronavirus infections among older more vulnerable age groups have translated into sustained increases in hospitalizations and deaths across some European countries.
The ECDC says recent infection spread in many EU countries seems to have peaked. However, six of the 17 countries reporting age-specific data saw increasing COVID cases among seniors over 65. They are Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Sweden.
“These trends have continued for as long as nine weeks in some countries. As the oldest age groups have the highest risk of severe disease, these figures highlight the importance of continuing to monitor disease and implement protective measures in older age groups.”
Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden are all seeing rising infection activity among people younger than 65. The ECDC says 21 countries have been reporting sentinel surveillance at family doctors with three countries reporting an increase in people coming in due to respiratory infections.
Hospital and ICU admissions remain lower than at this point a year ago but the centre says that eight countries have shown steadily increasing admission trends over recent weeks.
Bulgaria was the only country to report an overall increase in COVID death rates. However, of the 13 countries reporting fatalities broken down by age, two saw rising infection-related deaths among vulnerable seniors.
Just 18 countries met the ludicrously low threshold of submitting at least ten sequenced positive test results over a two-week period. Based on that extremely narrow window it looks like the XBB.1.5 is dominant in Europe. But honestly, that is verging on being almost sheer guesswork with that kind of limited data.
🇺🇸
While other COVID indicators seem to be trending downward, that is not the case for coronavirus fatalities, which are going in the opposite direction. COVID deaths in the United States increased (+12.5%) in the past week.
The virus has claimed over 1.1 million American lives and counting, by far the highest reported coronavirus death toll of any country on earth.
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Another new Omicron sub-variant is spreading quickly in the United States. The American Centre for Disease Control says HV.1 now makes up 25.2% of all sequenced positive test results as it now outpaces the previously dominant EG.5 strain.
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There could be a silver lining to the plight of millions of people who are suffering from long-COVID. The sheer amount of the problem has triggered a flood of funding to determine what is causing people to battle debilitating symptoms long after recovering from infection and how best to treat them. But that sudden flood of funding for studies and research is having a spillover impact. People suffering ‘long’ symptoms are not a new problem, people suffering from Lyme disease for example, and they could also benefit as a once poorly understood or studied health malady suddenly gets a lot of money and attention.
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that people suffering from long-COVID have different levels of certain chemicals, like serotonin, in their bodies compared to those who quickly recovered from a coronavirus infection.
South Shore Health Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Todd Ellerin:
"Reduced serotonin levels, that's an association. That doesn't mean it's the answer, but maybe if we replace their serotonin, maybe they'll do better.”
At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, long-COVID treatments are being coordinated across health disciplines. Long-COVID experts team with everyone from pulmonary and sleep medicine to neurology and mental health therapies.
For many of these post-viral diseases, experts said it's important to reduce the risk of developing illness in the first place by staying up to date on vaccinations.
"I don't think people appreciate that enough. These vaccines are not just for your acute phase of infection, but even in the long run, it's decreasing your chances of experiencing some long chronic issues.”
An estimated eight million people are dealing with long-COVID in the United States.
🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War
🇪🇪 🇫🇮 🇸🇪
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas says “there is reason to believe” that the three incidents of damage to underwater infrastructure running between Estonia, Finland, and Sweden are all related. “External forces” damaged the Balticconnector pipeline and an adjacent data cable while another data cable was physically moved out of position. A Hong Kong-registered cargo ship called Newnew Polar Bear is suspected of either accidentally or deliberately dragging an anchor severely damaging the gas pipeline and adjacent data cable running between Finland and Estonia. The damage to the second data cable was caused at roughly the same time.
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The Prime Ministers of Estonia, Finland, and Sweden met late last week to discuss the security of undersea infrastructure in the Baltic. The three heads of state shared notes on the damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and two data cables that were damaged at the beginning of the month. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that the issue of improving security on critical Baltic Sea infrastructure was much talked about.
🇩🇰 🇺🇦
Ukrainian soldiers who have gone through the ‘Operation Interflex’ rapid military training program in the UK are asking for some changes. A number of countries including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, are working to train 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers every four months. The training program teaches Ukrainian soldiers a basic suite of fighting skills to prepare them for the front lines.
But some of the soldiers who have been through the program say while it is extremely useful and they are thankful for it, the program needs to change. Specifically, the soldiers say there is a lack of training on all aspects of drone warfare and artillery. These have been the two defining tools of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Danish military trainers have told DR that they agree with the critique and the matter has been tabled for possible tweaks to the training program.
🇩🇰 🇸🇰
The new Slovakian government has moved swiftly to enact the anti-Ukrainian stance of its more militantly pro-Russian Prime Minister. Slovakia has already halted all arms donations to Ukraine. Now Denmark is scrambling to understand if this means trouble for an arms package it has already promised. Last year Denmark announced it was joining Germany and Norway donating Slovakian-made artillery to Ukraine. Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Ritzau that he doesn’t think the deal is in any danger but he is now seeking clarification from the Slovakian Ministry of Defense.
🇫🇴 🇩🇰🇪🇺/ 🇷🇺
It is time to fish or cut bait in the Faroe Islands. Russia is threatening to ban the import of fish from the islands as it seeks to put pressure on the Faroe Islands, which have become a lot stricter on the movement of Russian ships and their access to port. This stems from an investigative journalism cooperative from the four Nordic national broadcasters called ‘The Shadow War.’ It found, among other things, that Russia was using fishing boats to gather intelligence specifically on undersea infrastructure. It had been using its access to ports in the Faroe Islands in order to carry out its spying operations. Once the story broke, the Faroe Islands restricted access to Russian ships.
However, the threat to ban fish from the Faroe Islands is causing huge concern. Russia is a huge market for fish from Faroese fishermen. Long story short the Faroe Islands has had huge headaches accessing markets in the EU forcing it to turn to Russia. Negotiations to possibly extend the fishing agreement, or not, with Russia are scheduled to begin next month. Now the Faroe Islands government is turning to the EU and Denmark and saying if you want us to end the agreement crack down on Russian ships you have to give us access to European markets for our fish.
🇳🇱 NATO
The rumour mill is churning again about who might replace Jens Stoltenberg as NATO’s Secretary General. Before he took another one-year extension Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s name kept popping up despite her repeated denials that she wasn’t even interested in the position. Now Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is floating a trial balloon telling the Spuigasten radio program that he finds the job “very interesting.” Rutte added that he thinks he has “something to contribute” to the top job at NATO but added that it would also be good to have a woman take the post. General elections will be held in the Netherlands next month and Rutte is not running this time. He has been the Dutch Prime Minister since 2010.
🇩🇰The Week Ahead Round-Up🇩🇰
Tuesday, October 31:
Halloween at Tivoli in Copenhagen
Find out more HERE.
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If you are a Catholic and are in Copenhagen on Tuesday then head to Amalienborg Slot. Denmark’s Queen Margrethe will receive the Archbishop of the Vatican there at 11:30 a.m.
More information HERE.
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Europe, the People’s Project, or Europabevægelsen in Danish, is the topic of a conference celebrating the European movement. It also marks the unofficial beginning of the European Parliament elections in Denmark.
Various politicians will make presentations.
It takes place at Kampmannsgade 4, in Copenhagen beginning at noon.
There is more information HERE.
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The Danish Women’s national football team plays Wales in UEFA Nations League action.
The game will be played at Viborg Stadion beginning at 6 p.m.
You can buy tickets HERE.
Wednesday, November 1:
Christmas activities are beginning to creep onto the calendar. If you are in Aarhus the annual Christmas harbour cruise begins today. You can take a one-hour journey on an authentic paddle wheeler while enjoying some Christmas cheer.
The harbour cruise goes more or less daily until December 23.
You can learn all about it HERE.
Thursday, November 2:
The Series Awards will be held in Copenhagen. This is the first award show that focuses entirely on paying tribute to those who work on and star in the series genre. There will be 11 awards given out in all. Categories range from Best miniseries to Best screenplay.
You can learn more HERE.
Friday, November 3:
Den Gamle By releases its julebryg (Christmas beer) today. Enjoy a taste along with some jazz music amid the historic feel of old Denmark at night at what they call Bent J Dag.
Historic Den Gamle By is in Aarhus
Get tickets HERE.
Saturday, November 4:
If you fancy getting an early taste of Christmas then head to Rosenholm Slot north of Aarhus. It will open its doors for its two-day annual julemarked (Christmas market) on Saturday.
Doors open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
You can find out more HERE.
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Sticking with the seasonal theme the Juleskibet (Christmas ship) will begin one-hour Aarhus nighttime harbour tours today. Enjoy some Christmas cheer with a warm or cold adult beverage while enjoying the sites of the Aarhus waterfront.
The Jukeskibet sails more or less daily until December 29.
More information HERE.
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Den Gamle By in Aarhus opens its historic brewery for a special two-day weekend event. You can learn all about the old way of making Christmas beer that dates back to the Vikings while enjoying the ambiance of ancient Denmark in the middle of a modern city.
More information HERE.
Sunday, November 5:
It is the last hunting day of the year in Denmark. To mark the occasion some 160 hunters on horseback will take part in the Hubertus Hunt at the Deer Park in Klampenborg, which is just north of Copenhagen.
There will also be a traditional picnic. Be warned it is a popular event with some 40,000 spectators each year.
Find out more HERE.
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If your wardrobe needs some freshening up then head to ‘Mega Bargain’ in Aarhus today. The indoor market offers a plethora of second-hand clothing for sale for women.
It is held at Turbinehallen, Kalkværksvej 12, in Aarhus.
You can learn more about it HERE.